2,392 research outputs found
A review of issues in seagrass seed dormancy and germination: implications for conservation and restoration
Seagrasses have received considerable attention over the past 2 decades because of the multiple ecological roles they play in estuarine and coastal ecosystems and concerns over worldwide losses of seagrass habitat due to direct and indirect human impacts. Restoration and conservation efforts are underway in some areas of the world, but progress may be limited by the paucity of information on the role of seeds in bed dynamics. Although flowering occurs in most of the 58 seagrass species, seed germination data exist for only 19 of the 42 species that have some period of dormancy, with only 93 published references to field and/or laboratory studies. This review addresses critical issues in conservation and restoration of seagrasses involving seed dormancy (e.g. environmental vs physiological), existence and type of seed bank (transient or persistent), and factors influencing seed germination (e.g, salinity, temperature, light). Results of many earlier published studies relating seed germination to various environmental factors may need re-examination given more recent published data which show a confounding influence of oxygen level on the germination process. We highlight the importance of conducting ecologically meaningful germination studies, including germination experiments conducted in sediments. We also identify questions for future research that may figure prominently in landscape level questions regarding protected marine or estuarine reserves, habitat fragmentation, and restoration
Recent Star Formation in Sextans A
We investigate the relationship between the spatial distributions of stellar
populations and of neutral and ionized gas in the Local Group dwarf irregular
galaxy Sextans A. This galaxy is currently experiencing a burst of localized
star formation, the trigger of which is unknown. We have resolved various
populations of stars via deep UBV(RI)_C imaging over an area with diameter \sim
5.'3. We have compared our photometry with theoretical isochrones appropriate
for Sextans A, in order to determine the ages of these populations. We have
mapped out the history of star formation, most accurately for times \lesssim
100 Myr. We find that star formation in Sextans A is correlated both in time
and space, especially for the most recent (\lesssim 12 Myr) times. The youngest
stars in the galaxy are forming primarily along the inner edge of the large H I
shell. Somewhat older populations, \lesssim 50 Myr, are found inward of the
youngest stars. Progressively older star formation, from \sim 50--100 Myr,
appears to have some spatially coherent structure and is more centrally
concentrated. The oldest stars we can accurately sample appear to have
approximately a uniform spatial distribution, which extends beyond a surface
brightness of \mu_B \simeq 25.9 mag arcsec^{-2} (or, a radius r \simeq 2.'3$).
Although other processes are also possible, our data provides support for a
mechanism of supernova-driven expansion of the neutral gas, resulting in cold
gas pileup and compression along the H I shell and sequential star formation in
recent times.Comment: 64 pages, 22 figures, to appear in A
Simultaneous X-Ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Observations of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421 during February and May 2000
In this paper we present the results of simultaneous observations of the TeV
blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at X-ray and TeV Gamma-ray energies with the
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the stereoscopic Cherenkov Telescope
system of the HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) experiment, respectively.
The source was monitored from February 2nd to February 16th and from May 3rd to
May 8th, 2000. We discuss in detail the temporal and spectral properties of the
source. Remarkably, the TeV observations of February 7th/8th showed
statistically significant evidence for substantial TeV flux variability on 30
min time scale. We show the results of modeling the data with a time dependent
homogeneous Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC) model. The X-ray and TeV gamma-ray
emission strengths and energy spectra together with the rapid flux variability
strongly suggest that the emission volume is approaching the observer with a
Doppler factor of 50 or higher. The different flux variability time scales
observed at X-rays and TeV Gamma-rays indicate that a more detailed analysis
will require inhomogeneous models with several emission zones.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ, 21 Pages, 5 Figure
Lepton Fluxes from Atmospheric Charm
We reexamine the charm contribution to atmospheric lepton fluxes in the
context of perturbative QCD. We include next-to-leading order corrections and
discuss theoretical uncertainties due to the extrapolations of the gluon
distributions at small-x. We show that the charm contribution to the
atmospheric muon flux becomes dominant over the conventional contribution from
pion and kaon decays at energies of about 10^5 GeV. We compare our fluxes with
previous calculations.Comment: 19 pages, latex, revtex, psfi
Rejection of the hypothesis that Markarian 501 TeV photons are pure Bose-Einstein condensates
The energy spectrum of the Blazar type galaxy Markarian 501 (Mrk 501) as
measured by the High-Energy-Gamma-Ray Astronomy (HEGRA) air Cerenkov telescopes
extends beyond 16 TeV and constitutes the most energetic photons observed from
an extragalactic object. A fraction of the emitted spectrum is possibly
absorbed in interactions with low energy photons of the diffuse extragalactic
infrared radiation, which in turn offers the unique possibility to measure the
diffuse infrared radiation density by TeV spectroscopy. The upper limit on the
density of the extragalactic infrared radiation derived from the TeV
observations imposes constraints on models of galaxy formation and stellar
evolution. One of the recently published ideas to overcome severe absorption of
TeV photons is based upon the assumption that sources like Mrk 501 could
produce Bose-Einstein condensates of coherent photons. The condensates would
have a higher survival probability during the transport in the diffuse
radiation field and could mimic TeV air shower events. The powerful
stereoscopic technique of the HEGRA air Cerenkov telescopes allows to test this
hypothesis by reconstructing the penetration depths of TeV air shower events:
Air showers initiated by Bose-Einstein condensates are expected to reach the
maximum of the shower development in the atmosphere earlier than single photon
events. By comparing the energy-dependent penetration depths of TeV photons
from Mrk 501 with those from the TeV standard-candle Crab Nebula and simulated
air shower events, we can reject the hypothesis that TeV photons from Mrk 501
are pure Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, published by ApJ Letters, revised version
(simulation results added
The TeV Energy Spectrum of Mkn 501 Measured with the Stereoscopic Telescope System of HEGRA during 1998 and 1999
During 1997, the BL Lac object Mkn 501 went into an extraordinary state of
high X-ray and TeV gamma-ray activity, lasting more than 6 months. In this
paper we report on the TeV emission characteristics of the source in the
subsequent years of 1998 and 1999 as measured with the Stereoscopic Cherenkov
Telescope System of HEGRA (La Palma, Canary Islands). Our observations reveal a
1998-1999 mean emission level at 1 TeV of 1/3 of the flux of the Crab Nebula, a
factor of 10 lower than during the year of 1997. A dataset of 122 observations
hours with the HEGRA telescope system makes it possible to assess for the first
time the Mkn 501 TeV energy spectrum for a mean flux level substantially below
that of the Crab Nebula with reasonable statistical accuracy. Excluding the
data of a strong flare, we find evidence that the 1998--1999 low-flux spectrum
is substantially softer (by 0.44+-0.1(stat) in spectral index) than the 1997
time averaged spectrum. The 500 GeV to 10 TeV energy spectrum can well be
described by a power law model with exponential cutoff: dN/dE ~ E^(-alpha)
exp(-E/E0) with alpha=2.31+-0.22(stat), and E0=5.1 (-2.3+7.8)(stat) TeV. Within
statistical accuracy, also a pure power law model gives an acceptable fit to
the data: dN/dE ~ E^(-Gamma) with Gamma=2.76+-0.08(stat). After presenting the
1998-1999 TeV characteristics of the source we discuss the implications of the
results.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, on
August 4th, 200
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The unidentified TeV source (TeVJ2032+4130) and surrounding field: Final HEGRA IACT-System results
The unidentified TeV source in Cygnus is now confirmed by follow-up
observations from 2002 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of Cherenkov
Telescopes. Using all data (1999 to 2002) we confirm this new source as steady
in flux over the four years of data taking, extended with radius 6.2 arcmin
(+-1.2 arcmin (stat) +-0.9 arcmin (sys)) and exhibiting a hard spectrum with
photon index -1.9. It is located in the direction of the dense OB stellar
association, Cygnus OB2. Its integral flux above energies E>1 TeV amounts to
\~5% of the Crab assuming a Gaussian profile for the intrinsic source
morphology. There is no obvious counterpart at radio, optical nor X-ray
energies, leaving TeVJ2032+4130 presently unidentified. Observational
parameters of this source are updated here and some astrophysical discussion is
provided. Also included are upper limits for a number of other interesting
sources in the FoV, including the famous microquasar Cygnus X-3.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Tau Neutrinos Underground: Signals of Oscillations with Extragalactic Neutrinos
The appearance of high energy tau neutrinos due to
oscillations of extragalactic neutrinos can be observed by measuring the
neutrino induced upward hadronic and electromagnetic showers and upward muons.
We evaluate quantitatively the tau neutrino regeneration in the Earth for a
variety of extragalactic neutrino fluxes. Charged-current interactions of the
upward tau neutrinos below and in the detector, and the subsequent tau decay
create muons or hadronic and electromagnetic showers. The background for these
events are muon neutrino and electron neutrino charged-current and
neutral-current interactions, where in addition to extragalactic neutrinos, we
consider atmospheric neutrinos. We find significant signal to background ratios
for the hadronic/electromagnetic showers with energies above 10 TeV to 100 TeV
initiated by the extragalactic neutrinos. We show that the tau neutrinos from
point sources also have the potential for discovery above a 1 TeV threshold. A
kilometer-size neutrino telescope has a very good chance of detecting the
appearance of tau neutrinos when both muon and hadronic/electromagnetic showers
are detected.Comment: section added and two new figs; accepted for publication in Physical
Review
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